


The Nightingale

by LanaDelHoe



Series: The Nightingale Series [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 00:19:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12715896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LanaDelHoe/pseuds/LanaDelHoe
Summary: Once upon a time there was a king named Keith, who had all the treasures he could ever ask for. But then there is a boy, named Lance, who is said to be the kingdoms greatest treasure. This is a story of materialism, heartbreak, jealousy, but most importantly, love.





	The Nightingale

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gothkore](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gothkore/gifts).



> tumblr- headassqween
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> this is my first fic guys! My good friend @SatinGods inspired me to make this, i love her go check out her ao3. Please send memes and kudos and comments even if its telling me how much of a dumbass i am!

Once upon a time in a beautiful land, far far away. There was a king named Keith. He lived in the grandest palace, in the most gorgeous city in all of the land.

He lived a life of luxury. He ate only the finest foods, cooked by the kingdom’s top gourmet chefs. His palace was made of marble and limestone of the white variety. And the shiniest, most exquisite gems adorned his palace. Craved by all the richest to the peasants. Now, King Keith? He had an affinity for music. He would only listen to music preformed by the countries most renouned and talented musicians. 

 

Though he had a love for music, the palace garden was our king’s pride and joy. It contained a specimen of each flower in the world. Hand picked by Keith himself. It was so large, that NO one knew its boundaries. But beyond it lay a mystical forest that continued until it touched the sea. 

 

Within the forest, lived a young man named Lance. Lance had rich caramel colored skin. With milk chocolate colored hair, that curled behind his ears & that looked as if it was made of silk. He had peacock blue colored eyes and thick, long eyelashes that adorned his sapphire eyes to match his hair.

 

Lance was a boy of perfect stature, with slight soft curves on his body.

Lance had the most wonderful singing voice throughout the entire world. Everyday, he would go to the outskirts of the forest, near the sea where the fishermen dock. And he would sing. The fishermen would stop everytime and marvel at how lovely his voice sounded, touched that such a glorious voice would grace them with such an amazing song

 

Often times, travelers from distant lands would stop to hear Lance’s singing. Most were on trips to see King Keith’s grand palace, cities, and land. They would be awed by the sights & sounds. But nothing however, would amaze them as much as Lance’s singing. Of course they would write about Keith’s never ending garden,his grand cities and his palace’s food, music. But every time, the most memorable part of their journey would be Lance’s singing.

One of these books describing Lance was written by King Shiro, a fellow royal from a neighboring kingdom, found its way into Keith’s hands.

“Whats this about this boy Coran” asked Keith to his advisor, with a hidden rage behind his voice. 

“ A boy who’s singing is the greatest treasure in all the land? How am i just hearing of this now?” the king inquired.

“ I’ve never heard of it either your highness, perhaps it’s just a myth of sorts?’’ replied the advisor. 

 

“ We’re talking about Shiro here, Shiro would never lie about something to me.” the raven haired king pondered about the mystery boy some more. “ If there really is such a boy within my kingdom, I want to honor of meeting him. Coran! Go find him at once, or you will face the consequences.” 

 

Coran gulped and put a hand around his own throat, gagging. He set off to find as much information about the mystery boy as he could. Lest he face the wrath of the King. 

He searched high and low, asking all over the palace to see if anyone has heard of the singing boy in the forest. At wits hand, he started to ask the people of the servants quarters. Eventually, finding a pale, petite girl by the name of Pidge. Whom worked in the kitchens. 

 

When inquired about him she responded. “ Yes, I do know about him.” she replied. “ I am allowed to leave the palace every night. I bring leftovers from the kitchen that I bring to my brother, Matt who lives in the forest. Lance lives near us, he walks with me so nothing bothers me, and keeps me company by singing to me every night. 

 

“ I can guarantee a promotion, and job for the rest of your life with the palace, and a dinner with the king if you tell me where to find him. His majesty has requested to dine him you see” The tired advisor replied.

Pidge agreed and lead him through the garden. Entering the forest, they came to a clearing when Coran stopped to listen to a big thumping

“ Oh, that must be him” he stated. “What an interesting….. rhythm ? 

 

“ Come on Coran, you gotta be quiznacking kidding me, those are JUST frogs” replied Pidge with an audible annoyance in her voice. She latched onto his arm. 

“ Come on! Follow me!”

 

Indeed as soon as he followed her he came face to face with the bluest eyes he had ever seen in his entire life. His clothing, not that impressive. Dressed in the garb of a farmer’s boy However, boy did he have the most angelic face he had ever seen to make up for it. His hair had soft curls, swaying in all directions. A slightly visible widows peak at the beginning of his hairline. 

 

“ Hello cabron ” he smiled. “ I don’t believe I’ve see you around before handsome” he declared flirtaciously. 

Coran smiled, a goofy smile adorning his now red face. “ Lance” Pidge said, interrupted. 

“Oh-h, why of course” Coran replied. He straightened out his jacket and posture. “Lance. The king requests your company, and that you sing for him.” 

“Ah, is that so? Anything for his majesty," he bowed, cleared his throat and started singing. It was the most beautiful sound Coran had ever heard and he found himself captivated, wondering how such a simple man yet so beautiful could produce such wonderful music.

Unfortunately, the song ended. "Would you like me to sing again, your highness?" 

"Oh," Coran waved his hands in front of him, embarrassed , "I'm not his majesty. King Keith sent me to invite you to dine with him this evening in the palace."

 

"On normal circumstances I would decline. You see, I don't do very well inside stone walls," Lance admitted, "but if the King requests it, then how can I refuse?"

 

And so Lance was brought back to the palace. A feast was prepared. The whole palace was decorated in the finest silks and flowers that could be found. Everyone went all out, dressing in their finest, and even Pidge was allowed to sit next to Lance, who was seated at the King's right hand.

"Come then, Lance," Keith smirked. It was after dinner, and he certainly impressed by what had seen so far, he had yet to hear what has been dubbed the greatest treasure in his land, "Sing for us, if you can."

 

Lance eagerly took up the challenge in a heartbeat , singing with all his heart and soul, putting everything he had into it. The song was so sweet yet moving it brought Keith’s court from tears to full on bawling but the end of it. 

But fear not, these were tears of pure joy not sadness. As it grew to a crescendo more and more tears formed due to the sheer passion in Lance's performance, until even The hardened King Keith found himself crying over the beauty of his singing.

 

“That was…" Keith wiped the remaining tears away, "Coran, Fetch one of my best jewels and give it to Lance."

"That's okay," Lance insisted, "You've already given me the greatest reward I could ask for. A King's tears have wonderful power, and that's enough for me."

Keith demanded that Lance remain at the palace with him. He was given his own room, right next to Keith’s, and was allowed to wander the grounds twice a day and once at night with two escorts with him at all times. Lance missed the freedom the forest gave him, but every night Keith would summon him to his room so he could sing for him.

 

Lovely," he would say as he drifted off to sleep, "My darling, sweet Lance, that's lovely."

Lance blushed, looking down, he found he liked singing for Keith, making Keith happy in a way that only he could.

The whole kingdom was abuzz about Lance, the gorgeous farm boy who had captured the King’s heart. People traveled from far and wide just to overhear a note or two. Every now and then Keith would let him sing for the whole of the city and he found he enjoyed making them happy too.

One day, a package arrived from King Shiro, along with a note: King Shiro's music is poor compared to that of King Keith's. Her name was Allura.

Curious, Keith immediately opened the package and found that Shiro had sent him a female mechanical replica of Lance. Allura's hair was much longer. Her white hair looked as if was made of clouds, with a 3b texture. It curled more and her eyes were more azure blue with fuschia pupils. Her skin was made of Gold, but other then that, she looked as human. But in Lance’s case, other than those minor features they could have been one in the same.

"She looks just like me," Lance exclaimed in amazement. 

Keith agreed as he gave the robot another look. His eyes widened when he realized that Allura was mostly made out of precious gems and solid gold and silver, and he marveled at the wealth of his friend. They discovered that when wound up Allura could sing just like Lance could, jewels sparkling as she did so.

 

"That is marvelous!" the court exclaimed, "Let them sing together! What a duet they would make."

Unfortunately, it turned out, however, Lance's natural style did not harmonize well with Allura's mechanical one.

"Truely a shame,"Hunk, the leading expert on music in all the land, commented, "Allura will have to sing on her own."

And so she did. She was just as well received as Lance was, and much prettier to look at with all the shiny materials she was made of. She sang the same song over and over again without ever tiring, much to the happiness of the audience.

From then on, Allura sang at dinner every night, after dinner when the court called for it, during the day when the masses called for it. Slowly and surely Lance found that his position in the palace, in his dear Keith's life, was being filled by Allura. The last straw came one night when Keith called for Allura to sing him to sleep instead of Lance.

"Lovely," he yawned as he drifted off to sleep, "My dear, that's lovely."

Later that night, after everyone else had gone to sleep, Lance gathered his belongings, and slipped away.

Just as he had made it out of the garden, at the border of his forest, a voice stopped him. "Where are you going Lance?"

He turned to find Pidge standing there, "I'm just, you know… Nothing!" I- I- wasn’t up to anything! Can’t a guy just take a walk around here?”

" Are you-, Going back to the forest by any chance?" he blushed and looked away, "It's alright man, I won't tell anyone, but are you sure you want to do this?"

"A gilded cage is still a cage. Besides, now that Keith has his shiny new singer Allura, she’s much better than I ever could in every way, he doesn't need me anymore."

"I'm sure King Keith thinks of you as more than just his singer. But! I think if you leave without saying goodbye he will miss you terribly."

" In all Honestly? I don't think he'll even notice I'm gone," Lance said with a lucid look in his eyes. He quickly replaced it with a kind smile, "You'll still come and visit me again like you used to?"

She nodded, "I do still visit my brother. I'm sure we'll see each other again."

 

With a quick hug and another smile, Lance disappeared from the palace grounds.

The next night at dinner, after Allura had sung his song for the fiftieth time that night, King Keith realized he wanted to hear something else, "Let's have my dear Lance sing something now shall we?"

But, as it turned out, Lance did not show up to was not dinner that night, nor anywhere in the palace. Many people searched for him, but they quickly discovered that Lance was nowhere to be found. "My king, it seems that Lance is gone."

"That ungrateful bastard!" Keith fumed, "Where has he gone off to?"

"He'll probably come back soon," Coran suggested, but Keith knew the truth.

"After all this time… after everything I've done for him, he just leaves, not a word of warning or a goodbye or…" he bit his lip and took a quick moment to compose himself, wiping a stray tear. "If he wants to be that way, fine. Then I'll banish him. I don't want to see his face anywhere near my land, he got up and stood next to Allura. “ Allura has a much better voice anyway."

"Indeed," Hunk nodded with a slight reminisent tone to his voice, "With Lance, you'd never know what song he was going to sing, but with Allura, it's always the same song. We always know what to expect, and we can figure out her musical style for ourselves."

"Yes," the court agreed, "Allura is much better."

"Sing for us again Allura," Keith demanded with a crazed look in his eyes. And so she did.

Keith had Allura perform for the rest of his subjects, and they all marveled at his wonderful song, but one of the subjects who had also heard Lance once sing commented, "It sounds good, but there's something missing." He was promptly executed.

 

Keith made sure Allura never left his side. He wound her up and had her sing for him whenever the mood struck him. By the end of a year, everyone in the kingdom knew Allura's song by heart and they all took great pleasure in singing along with her.

"That's lovely," Keith would say every night as Allura sung him to sleep, with less feeling each passing night, "Lance, my beautiful, beautiful boy, that's lovely."

 

One night while Allura was singing him to sleep, something inside her broke, making him stutter, come to a stop and fall silent. Panicking, Keith called for the best doctor in the  
kingdom, but there was nothing she could do, as she had never studied mechanics. She was promptly thrown out and instead the best watchmaker in the land was summoned, and she did what she could. She managed to fix Allura up enough to the best of her ability so he could sing again, but not for much longer, with hesitance, complied, and only allowed Allura to sing once a year.

3 years passed and King Keith found himself deathly ill. Everyone had already assumed him dead, that there was nothing they could do, and left him alone as they curried favor with his successor. And that was how Death, with her long pink box braids, dark brown skin, and neon blue eyes found him, alone with only Allura and his treasures for company.

Death picked up Keith's crown and placed it on the nightstand. "That's mine," Keith  
protested, "I'm not dead yet."

"You might as well be," Death laughed as she also grabbed his sword, "Hey Keithy boy," she used it to point out the faces that had started to gather around Keith’s bed, representing all of his good and bad deeds, "Do you remember this your Majesty?" she stated mockingly

And she continued, on and on, pointing out each incident and forcing Keith to remember it, one by one.

"I don't know!" Keith denied everything, "I don't remember! Music! Something, anything to drown her out!" but Death cackled and continued, “ Allura!" he shouted at the lifeless machine, "Sing! Sing for me! Please, I'm begging you!" 

But Allura just stood there, as silent and as beautiful as 4 years ago .

Just as Keith was starting to give up , a soft melody floated in from the open window. On the tree just outside sat Lance, singing a song full of life and hope. As he grew louder, the faces around Keith's bed vanished and Keith felt his health returning.

"Again," Death demanded turning her neon eyes on him, hair swishing with the turn of her head when Lance finished his song, "Sing something else."

" Ay amiga, it depends, Can I have the King's sword and crown?" he asked as he jumped through the window and landed just in front of Death, eyes full of not fear but determination.

"Of course, I'm just as awesome without them," she said as he handed them over.

And so Lance started singing. He sang of a faraway land, full of fierce battles and noble kings, of heartache, of love.Death started to feel homesick and floating away. Turning once more towards the pair.

“You know what, that was beautiful” she stated blinking away tears. “ I’ll leave you alone for now Keith, but I’ll get you one day” she commented

 

“Gracias Death” Lance spoke, with gratitude in his voice. 

“ Hey now, call me Ezor, Death’s my work name.” She winked and left. 

 

"Thank you," Keith said as Lance approached his bedside, "Lance, thank you. My light, You came back. You left, left me behind and all alone but, after all this time, you came back and you got rid of death for me."

"Pidge told me you were sick," Lance admitted, "I wanted to come and sing for you again. And I… missed you."

"How can I ever repay you?"

"You already have," Lance gently cupped his cheek, "Now sleep. Sleep and get better. I'll sing for you."

As Lance sang, Keith found himself lulled into a gentle, peaceful sleep, the first he'd had in years.

When he woke up the next morning he found himself alone in his room, save for Allura, who was silent as ever in her corner, and Lance, slumbering quietly at his bedside. Keith sat up, his strength fully returned, as tried to get out of bed without waking Lance. He failed, as Lance slowly blinked his eyes open and yawned as he woke as well.

"You're looking a lot better," he smiled and stood up as he caught sight of Lance.

"Thanks to you," Keith walked over to the other side of the bed and placed an arm around Lance’s waist. "Stay with me. Please."

Lance shook his head and pulled Keith's arm away, "I can't."

"Please," Keith begged, getting on his knees while gripping Lance’s waist. "I need you. Please stay. You can sing only when you want to. I'll get rid of Allura even, just please-"

"Don't do that," he looked over at Allura, "I didn't like her at first, but she did as well as she could for as long as she could. You should keep her. She was never the reason I can't stay."

"Then why?"

Lance started stroking the hand he still held with his thumb, "I don't do well in stone walls, he smiled " Keith made to tug his hand away, but Lance held it firm, "But, will you let me come back whenever I want?"

"Yes," he smiled, "Yes of course you can, whenever."

"Then I'll come back at night, through that window," he nodded towards it, "and I will sing to you and make you happy again. I shall travel all over and come back and tell you about what I see, what I hear. I will sing to you about what's going on in your kingdom, so you'll always know and you'll never be in the dark. I will come back and I'll sing for you, I only ask for one thing in return my love”. 

 

“Everything, anything," Keith leaned his forehead against Lance's and closed his eyes, "Anything you want. It's yours."

"Just don't tell anyone about your little bird," Lance closed his eyes and tilted his head. Keith pushed their lips together .As soon as Keith realized what had happened Lance had pulled away. He opened his eyes in time to see him jump out the window he came in through and vanish into the garden.

As Keith went about getting ready for the rest of the day, Coran came in, fully expecting to see the dead body of his King, and stopped dead  
in his tracks when instead he found him up and about, healthiest he'd been in months.

Keith caught sight of him and smiled with a love stuck look on his face, "Well good morning to you too."


End file.
